Utility of and preliminary psychometric reliability and validity of a measure of psychological inflexibility for misophonia

Abstract

Misophonia is a psychological disorder that has been under researched despite the impact it can have on functioning and quality of life. Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) has been explored as a potential treatment option for misophonia. The process of change targeted by ACT is psychological flexibility. However, research on the association of psychological inflexibility and misophonia is nascent, as there are not misophonia-specific measures available. In this study we validated a measure of misophonia-specific psychological inflexibility, the misophonia acceptance and action questionnaire (miso-AAQ). Participants (N = 120) were from a randomized controlled trial of ACT for misophonia and matched control participants. All completed the miso-AAQ at pre-treatment. Preliminary results indicate the miso-AAQ has satisfactory internal reliability (α = .84). and validity (rs = 0.33-0.55, ps <0.05). Results also provide preliminary support of misophonia-related psychological inflexibility as a potential mediator in the relationship between misophonia symptom severity and anger and stress. Future directions and implications are discussed.